What Have We Learned From 10 Years of Medical Aid in Dying in CA?

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KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

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Summary

California’s End of Life Option Act, which allows people with certain terminal illnesses and a life expectancy of less than six months to receive medication that ends their life, turns 10 this month. Yet despite polling showing the policy is popular, access remains complicated and controversial, and few eligible patients actually pursue the option. We’ll discuss how the program has worked in California and examine the shifting national support for medical aid-in-dying policies. Guests: Paula Span, adjunct professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; writes the New Old Age column, a co-production of The New York Times and KFF Health News Dr. Lonny Shavelson, physician and director of education, Academy of Aid-in-Dying Medicine; medical doctor who's provided aid-in-dying care for 7 years Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:47.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Leslie McClurg. I'm in today for Mina Kim.
0:52.7	Terminally ill patients in California received the right to end their
0:57.1	own life on their own terms about a decade ago. And on paper, it's pretty straightforward. You fill out the
1:02.4	forms, you find a few doctors to sign off, you make a plan. But a friend of mine recently shared
1:07.8	her family's story. Her mom had done everything, right? The lengthy paperwork was
1:11.8	complete. The doctors had signed off. But when it was actually time when her mom was really sick,
1:17.8	towards the end, her children didn't let her mom take the meds because they weren't ready to let go.
1:24.0	And so her mom spent her final day of suffering in a way she had specifically tried to avoid.
1:30.7	It's obviously a really complicated decision to navigate.
1:33.7	So let's talk about the nuances.
1:35.9	We are joined by Paula Spann, adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
1:41.6	She also writes the new old age column for the New York Times. Welcome.
1:46.6	Thank you. Good to be here. And Dr. Lonnie Shavelson is Director of Education for the Academy of
1:52.5	Aid in Dying Medicine, also a medical doctor who has provided aid in dying care for about the last
1:57.8	seven years. Welcome, Dr. Shabelson. Yeah. Thanks so much for
	...

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